My car has Michelin Premier A/S tires on it. They were made in April 2014 and installed on August 2015 by the previous owner at 50K miles.
I bought the car with 80K miles in April 2018. When I looked at the tires, I was disappointed. My immediate thought was "This car needs new tires". But I just spent a bunch of money on the car and didn't feel like potentially spending another $1K on new tires at the time.
These tires have a 60K service life but at 30K miles, they seemed worn. There was a bunch of small cracking in the threads and small cracking in by the corners of the tire. The depth looked low to me as well, but I estimate they were between 5/32 and 4/32. By the "definition" the tires were still good, but I wasn't too happy in the condition they were in.
I told myself Ill buy new tires next April.
The car now has 90K miles and I'm thinking of changing them earlier. I'm planning to go on a ski trip in a few weeks. The highways leading to the mountain could potentially have some snow and I want to make sure I won't have to worry about driving them. If it matters, the roads are a paved highway not a back road.
Here is a picture of the tires along with the Penny test. It appears now that the front tires are between 2/32 and 3/32 while the rear ones are between 3/32 and 4/32. At 87K miles a dealer multi-point inspection measured them at 4/32. They haven't reached the wear bars but are getting close.
https://imgur.com/a/O3QxviR
Would these tires be suitable for a bit of snow driving?
Here's the kicker: I did some digging and apparently The Premier is advertised to keep good traction even when "worn". Apparently it can perform better worn than new brands of other tires. I drove on snow maybe 2 times a year, but when I did, my previous car had much more tread on the tires. Do you think Michelin's claim applies in snow?
I've never experienced traction issues with these Premier A/S tires. Even in wet roads with heavy rain, they handled pretty well. I pretty much never drive in snow. If the manufacturer says they can last that long, I can surely go another 4-5 months before they really need to be changed.
I bought the car with 80K miles in April 2018. When I looked at the tires, I was disappointed. My immediate thought was "This car needs new tires". But I just spent a bunch of money on the car and didn't feel like potentially spending another $1K on new tires at the time.
These tires have a 60K service life but at 30K miles, they seemed worn. There was a bunch of small cracking in the threads and small cracking in by the corners of the tire. The depth looked low to me as well, but I estimate they were between 5/32 and 4/32. By the "definition" the tires were still good, but I wasn't too happy in the condition they were in.
I told myself Ill buy new tires next April.
The car now has 90K miles and I'm thinking of changing them earlier. I'm planning to go on a ski trip in a few weeks. The highways leading to the mountain could potentially have some snow and I want to make sure I won't have to worry about driving them. If it matters, the roads are a paved highway not a back road.
Here is a picture of the tires along with the Penny test. It appears now that the front tires are between 2/32 and 3/32 while the rear ones are between 3/32 and 4/32. At 87K miles a dealer multi-point inspection measured them at 4/32. They haven't reached the wear bars but are getting close.
https://imgur.com/a/O3QxviR
Would these tires be suitable for a bit of snow driving?
Here's the kicker: I did some digging and apparently The Premier is advertised to keep good traction even when "worn". Apparently it can perform better worn than new brands of other tires. I drove on snow maybe 2 times a year, but when I did, my previous car had much more tread on the tires. Do you think Michelin's claim applies in snow?
I've never experienced traction issues with these Premier A/S tires. Even in wet roads with heavy rain, they handled pretty well. I pretty much never drive in snow. If the manufacturer says they can last that long, I can surely go another 4-5 months before they really need to be changed.
